r of her face
increased.

"Married another!" she gasped.

Jacques regarded her gravely. "I know nothing except it was told me by
Jeanne," he returned--"how he talked in the voice of the fever-spirit,
that this girl would marry another. In the paper he read it--but even
so, will he drink no whisky. One week ago did he not hear how one night
in the bunk-house Leduc tried to make the little boy drink whisky? And
did he not hunt up Leduc the next morning, and, upon the skidway, smash
the nose of him and knock four teeth from his jaw?"

The guide paused, and Appleton slowly screwed the silver top to his
flask and returned it to his pocket.

"Upon the stove is a pot of very strong coffee which Daddy Dunnigan
told me to bring," Jacques went on; "and he is even now making broth in
the cook-shack. M's'u' Bill cannot die. The strong coffee and the good
broth will bring him back to life; for he is called in the woods
The-Man-Who-Cannot-Die.

"If he could die he would die in the blizzard. For, since blizzards
were known, has no man done a thing like this--to search for two days
and a night for one boy lost in the snow, and carry him home in
safety."

The half-breed finished, and the girl, with a low cry, sank into a
chair and, leaning forward upon the desk, buried her face in her arms
while her shoulders shook with the violence of her sobbing.

Appleton crossed to her side and laid a hand gently upon her shoulder.

"Come, Ethel," he said; "this has been too much for you. Let me take
you to the house."

But the girl shook her head. She raised her eyes, wet with tears, and
with an effort controlled her voice.

"My place is here--with _him_," she said softly as she arose, and,
walking to the side of the cot, looked down at the set face of the
unconscious man. "Leave me alone now. There is nothing you can do. I
will stay with him while you sleep. Draw your cot close to the wall,
and if I need you I will knock. Jacques will go to the cook-shack," she
added, turning to the half-breed, "and when the broth is ready bring it
to me."

The men obeyed without question, and as the office door closed behind
them the girl dropped to her knees beside the bunk and, throwing her
arms about the man's neck, pressed her soft cheek close against his
bearded face.

The little tin lamp in its bracket beside the row of books on the top
of the desk was turned low and its yellow light illuminated dimly the
interior of the rough room. She sli